Community grows rainforest in Lismore gallery

Eve Jeffery

On Saturday a forest of rainbow Art Magic which has been growing for over three months in Lismore was unveiled at the art gallery.

The exhibition Art Magic: Remnant is a community engagement project which has seen residents and community groups from across the region contribute to the final piece, a remnant of ‘big scrub’ rainforest in the heart of town.

The piece, including a Cloudcatcher Media film about Art Magic, is the work of installation and performance artist, Hiromi Tango and her extra self ‘Momo’.

Hiromi uses textiles to weave together tactile and immersive environments by hand. She has extensive experience working with communities in Australia and overseas.

Hiromi as Momo along with local artist Aunty Figgy a.k.a. Claudie Frock, facilitated the addition of vibrant and colourful creations to the piece by the Lismore community in a pop-up shop in the Star Court Arcade. Workshop participants and community group members played a crucial role in creating Art Magic: Remnant.

Hiromi was particularly drawn to working in Lismore as she says the sense of community is so exceptionally strong and the grass roots are deep in this powerful community.

Lismore Mayor Jenny Dowell opened the exhibition on Saturday afternoon saying that she first saw Hiromi’s work in the Cloudcatcher Media film clips sent to her by exhibition curator Kezia Geddes. ‘I was literally sitting at my desk with my mouth open’, said Jenny. ‘When you see this exhibition you will see why.’

‘I looked at those films and could understand Hiromi’s passion for creating things with our hands that link not just our hands but our hearts and link our emotions with what we are doing.

‘She talked about the connection of healing and art and expressing our emotions.’

Ms Dowell spoke about the featured symbol of the exhibition which is the heart, a connection with the rainforest and the heart leafed Macaranga tree and the Bleeding Heart tree.

‘It’s about linking that symbol of the heart which is in our natural environment in the big scrub, with our own heart. I know Hiromi chose Lismore because she sees it as a community with a great sense of community and a great sense of love and belonging and connection.’

Community groups including; R.E.D. Inc, Lismore TAFE, Jarjum Preschool, Lismore Yarn Guerillas, The Crafty Mummas, Jiggi Makers Circle, The Village Artists, Tuntable Falls Community Preschool and Primary School, Friends Child Care Centre, Lismore Deaf Artists Group and Lismore Rainforest Botanical Gardens along with Lismore residents were part of the artistic collaboration contributing to the final piece which will be on display at the gallery for the next five weeks.

Photos Tree Faerie